Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Ordish Fire Brick Co

The Ordish Fire Brick company was established in Dandenong by W. P. Ordish in about 1890. Ordish sold the business in 1922 and died in 1930, but the works appears to have continued production to about 1975, the company having merged with Newbold from Lithgow NSW in 1960.

As fire bricks were destined to be used for complex shapes such as kilns, flues, boiler settings, furnaces, etc, and they would weaken if cut or shaped after firing, they tended to be made in very diverse shapes such as arch voussoirs, key stones, chamfered edge, etc.

As fire bricks were a higher value product with less competition than normal bricks, they tended to be transported greater distances. Ordish bricks have been found in Tasmania.